Enemies

The Yagyu Clan is a Clan of Mobian bat ninjas who were infamous for plundering and terrorizing villages in the Dragon Kingdom. For over fifty years, the Yagyu Ninja attacked and pillaged goods from Leung Kar village, often stealing things from the Temple of the Golden Lotus. However, in 3236 the Yagyu were stopped from stealing goods by Monkey Khan. Khan, along with Liu Fang and Liu Chi Mei later tracked down the Yagyu to their headquarters and attacked them, though subsequently fell into a trap set up by Lord Yagyu. Khan and the others discovered the loot stolen by the clan, only to be attacked by a robot dragon controlled by them. Monkey Khan managed to reprogram the dragon to attack the clan members, forcing them to flee. A year afterward, the Clan Wars involving the Yagyu Clan were ended when the Iron Queen slew their leader, the Bride of Rich Nights, and made them her soldiers.

Contents

History

Terrorizing and Stealing

For generations the Yagyu Clan terrorized and robbed treasures from Leiling Kar temples. They would stash their stolen treasure in an underground lair near their Haunted Lake base. The treasure was guarded by a "dragon," a giant green robot that is attracted to gold. During one of their temple raids, two mobians, Liu Fang and Liu Chi Mei chased after two ninja until Monkey Khan engaged the ninja. The Yagyu members used smoke as a distraction while they escaped. Monkey Khan, Liu Fang, and Liu Chi Mei traveled to their hideout where they were ambushed by many Yagyu ninja. The leader of the group, Lord Yagyu, dropped the trio into the treasure room, where the robot dragon began to attack them. The dragon only focused on Monkey Khan because of his gold Power Ring headband, but Monkey Khan damaged the robot. The robot began chasing the Yagyu Ninja away while the trio recovered the treasure.

Servants of the Iron Queen

The Yagyu Clan attacking Sonic and Monkey Khan in the ruins of New Megaopolis

It is unknown what happened to Lord Yagyu but the rest of the clan followed the Bride of the Rich Nights during the Clan Wars. The Iron Queen killed the Bride of Rich Nights and took the Yagyu as her own. The remaining clans also started following the Iron Queen. The Yagyu Clan accompanied The Iron Queen, the Iron King and the Bride of Conquering Storm to New Megaopolis where Snively, Dr. Eggman's "nephew," declared the Iron Queen the new ruler of the Eggman Empire. They searched with Conquering Storm through the ruined city for anything working or of use, but found the Eggdome to be the only operational part of the city.

When Sonic the Hedgehog and Monkey Khan ambushed the city, the Yagyu Clan was ordered by the Dark Egg Legion's Kommisar, Lien-Da to fight them off while they stayed in a safer position as support. They proved to be formidable opponents against Sonic and Khan, especially when assisted by the Dark Egg Legion troops. After the Iron King joined the battle, the Yagyu helped win the battle, and the two heroes were forced to retreat.

After that the Yagyu guarded the Eggdome alongside the D.E.L up until Eggman`s escape, where they ran, leaped, swung and tumbled out of the mad doctor`s path. Recovering from the escape the Yagyu went after the doctor with their mistress and much of the Dark Egg Legion in pursuit. Catching up to the former despot they found Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower Soon the hedgehog attacked, damaging most of the saucer crafts, harassing the bats until the Iron King dealt with the hedgehog. Once more Freedom Fighters appeared the clan was pushed slightly back before their mistress rallied them for another charge. Following the heroes to the city limits where they came to a halt, unable to penetrate the shield the Yagyu along their mistress, king and allies were forced to take a humiliating retreat and walk all the way back to the Eggdome. However, they would soon return and invade the city, aided by the reprogrammed "iron Nicole". Though a few rebels were able to escape, the Yagyu were able to capture many of the citizens, and forced them to play audience for a public Legionization to be held in the city's coliseum.

Rebellion

While the Iron Dominion was securing New Mobotropolis, back in the Dragon Kingdom, after Sonic and a team of Mobians—namely Monkey Khan, Tails, and Sally —who escaped New Mobotropolis convinced the Gossamer Clan to side with Monkey Khan, members of the Yagyu Clan still stationed in their homeland requested a meeting with them. Several of them then attacked the group after mistaking them for ordinary travelers and attempting to rob them, and were handily defeated before being informed of the truth. The Yagyu Lord of that area then agreed to meet with Sally and Khan, while Sonic and Tails ended up dealing with Fiona and the Destructix who had entered Yagyu territory. The Lord brushed off many of Sally's negotiating tactics, only agreeing to break away from the Iron Dominion when Khan proposed they leave the clan system altogether and return to the regional lord rule of the past, which appealed greatly to the Lord. Unbeknownst to them, Khan did this because he knew that the Yagyu would be less efficient without the structure the clan system had given them.

Later, with his mission in the Dragon Kingdom finished, Khan and his companions returned to the city and announced to the Yagyu ninja who had accompanied the Iron Queen that their clan had broken ties with the Dominion, promising them on his word of honor. Acknowledging the customary pledge, the Yagyu Lords over those forces led their ninja out of the city, abandoning the Iron King and Queen as well as the Dark Egg Legion to their fate. The thieving ninja continued to raid the citizens of the Dragon Kingdom, but were greatly reduced as a threat due to their division.

Trivia

Yagyu (or Yagyū) is a Japanese family name, most often connected with the school of swordsmanship known as Yagyū Shinkage-ryū (柳生新陰流). It was named after renowned swordsman Yagyū Munetoshi, who developed the mutō techniques of using bare hands against the sword.

Some fans theorized that Rouge the Bat could be a former member of the Yagyu Clan due to her thieving history and high level of combat skill. However, writer Ian Flynn has shot down this theory on his message board.[1] This theory was nodded to in the Off Panel of Sonic Universe #14, in which similarities were noted not just between Rouge and the Yagyu Clan, but particularly the deceased Bride of Rich Nights.

The clan seems to be made up specifically of Vampire Bats as Monkey Khan referred to them as "bloodsuckers." Then again, it could have been meant as an insult, as a Yagyu Lord was shown eating grapes, meaning that the Yagyu may be fruit bats. The only Bat characters with no known connection to the Yagyu Clan, Rouge and Nusgau, appear to be either different species of Bat, or are otherwise simply depicted differently.

All members of the clan formerly had blue eyes, but they were later changed to red-violet in their recent appearances.

The Yagyu bats, with the exception of Lord Yagyu, formerly spoke in high pitched shrieks. Since their reintroduction, it has been shown that they can speak, albeit in a hissing voice, as one member talked to Monkey Khan.